“Juliet!” Lily screamed into the trees, where she thought she had glimpsed her dead friend. She looked behind to where Callum had parked the buggy. He was still searching for a torchlight. It was now or never. If she didn’t follow the trail of pale blue that the Wisp of Juliet had left, then she might never get to say a final goodbye to Juliet. Without a second thought, her feet took off into the forest. Thorny vines extended out to tear her dress and scrape her arms. The cuts they left stung, but nothing compared to the pain of losing Juliet. Blisters on her feet rubbed against the inside of her shoes, threatening to burst, but that didn’t slow her down. What did stop her was the realization that she was lost in the middle of the woods, with no trace of the Wisp that Juliet had become. Maybe she had only imagined seeing her friend, but before she could fall further into desperation, she heard the rustle of leaves behind her.
“Who’s there?” Lily shouted through chattering teeth. Her hands were shaking, and the tips of her toes had gone numb. Damn it, why did I leave my coat in the buggy? Winter had left the trees naked, and in their bare forms, it felt like they were poised to close in on her. Out of the corner of her eyes she spotted something. A pale blue glow illuminated a path through the eerie trees, whose branches now resembled fingers reaching out to grab hold of Lily and stop her from finding Juliet. She took a deep inhale and approached where the glow was. Except it wasn’t a glow at all, but a woman. Another Wisp, she would know where Juliet was.
“Where is she,” Lily said with an authority she didn’t think she possessed, but the Wisp just floated to the side, allowing space for Lily to pass through. Without stopping to give her thanks or ask more questions, Lily continued running down the path. Though the Wisp’s glow was faint and darkness loomed ahead, Lily didn’t let fear stop her. She ran and ran, until her lungs ached and breathing became difficult, but still she continued on.
Out of nowhere she was falling face first and pain blossomed in her toes, “Damnit!” She cursed aloud, careless if she spooked the Wisps. A stupid root had tripped her. Her hands grasped a tree trunk for support as she lifted herself from the ground and dusted herself off. As she wiped her hands, they left bloody marks on her skirt. There must have been rocks under her fall. The prim pastel pink her skirt used to be was now stained dark red with her blood, and mud clung to the hem. This wasn’t what Lily had in mind for this night. Callum was supposed to be with her, taking off an unmarked skirt. But Lily was alone, by her own fault, and she had ruined her fanciest frock. While wiping the blood from her hand she must have stepped off the path, because now she couldn’t see anything but the reflection of moonlight in the fog ahead. Fog! Maybe Juliet was there just blending in.
“Juliet! I’m coming!” A crow in the trees above cawed in response. Lily jogged, more carefully this time, towards the fog. Dead leaves that still clung to branches tried to brush against her, but she dogged them. Determined not to be stopped by any part of a tree again. Her feet didn’t stop until she came to the edge of a vast lake. Fog clung to the top, everything was still except for the fog, which was swirling faster and faster. Then it stopped and cleared. In its wake the fog revealed Wisps; women shrouded with a pale blue glow standing in a circle around the edge of the lake. Lily took in the scene before her, It couldn’t be real. She could rationalize seeing Juliet as a ghost, and maybe the Wisp from before had only been fog that Lily had imagined into a woman. But almost a hundred women? No, she was going crazy. The grief and being overworked was getting to her. She just needed to get back to, back to.. where? Or was it who? Lily couldn’t remember, the only thing she knew for sure was that she had fallen while running, the bloodstains on her skirt proved that much.
As her eyes adjusted and her breathing slowed the picture before her became much clearer and she saw that each woman’s face was different, but all wore the same expression, regret. Lily took in each face, searching for Juliet’s, but she wasn’t there. Almost ready to give up hope and drown, a Wisp flickered to life on the lake, filling the gap right in front of Lily. She didn’t need to turn around for Lily to know who she was.
“Juliet?” Her words came out breathlessly, she took a timid step closer to where the water met land. The pale figure turned, and sure enough Juliet’s gaunt face with eyes full of regret met hers. “It’s really you,” Lily reached out to touch her friend’s arm expecting for it to go straight through, but her hand met flesh.
“Of course it’s me, where else would I be?” Her voice was light but sounded far away like an echo. Lily thought about suggesting that Juliet should be in her grave, but standing here that seemed a silly thing to say. So instead she said, “At the studio, dancing with me,” Lily felt her eyes water.
“But dear, why be stuck inside dancing with people who do not care about us when we could dance along the ripples of the water with our sisters who love us?” Juliet gestured to the women gathered on the water’s surface. Maybe she was right, if Lily drowned herself right here, right now, then she could be free to dance surrounded by people who loved her, in nature, forever. It sounded so good, but there was something nagging in the back of her mind. A person who loved her, but she just couldn’t picture who. So Juliet took her hands and walked backwards with grace and ease, not even peaking over her shoulder. Lily was so entranced that she didn’t even register the cold seeping into her fingers. Juliet kept walking and Lily kept her eyes on the face in front of her, nothing else seemed to matter. They would dance together like old times and the world would be right again. Juliet let go of her hands, which were now numb as if cold had frozen them, but she was wearing gloves. But that didn’t matter because Lily was standing in the middle of the lake, and was starting to emit a soft pale blue glow.
The sound of the wind whistling through the trees made up a music that was just meant to be danced to. Lily tilted her head as she listened, and Juliet gave her an encouraging nod as if to say “Yes, dance and we will follow.”
So she danced. Lily moved her body to the sound of wind, her toes skimmed the water making small splashes, but she couldn’t feel any of the water that was inevitably dampening her skirt. All she could feel was hopeful along with the movements of the other women. They were her corps de ballet, and she was the prima. She had done it, Lily had finally become the best, her dream had come true. She never wanted to stop, she didn’t think she could even if she wanted to. But that nagging feeling from earlier returned, causing her to stumble. This time she felt the bitter sting of icy water through her flimsy boots, and thin skirts.
“It’s okay Lily, just get back up!” Juliet, but not Juliet, called from all around. It was all the other women dancing, they were cheering her on. Lily smiled, it felt so good to be adored by everyone. Her dancing resumed, and the faint glow got brighter with every step she took. She leaped and spun, held balances for longer than she ever had before. Her dancing had never been so perfect, nothing had ever been so perfect. Except there was something, a feeling that Lily might have felt once before, but she couldn’t recall.
The dance went on, the light of the Wisps grew brighter, as did Lily’s. Nothing deterred her. The moon kept steadily rising to its peak, the women never stopping their dance. What could have been hours to anyone else felt like second to them. Lily’s fingers and toes might have been cold, but she couldn’t feel them over the steady warmth that was rising in her chest. At some point she had begun a pas de deux with Juliet, her mind was free of wandering, all it knew was this moment.
“Lily! LILY!” A man’s voice called her name, that wasn’t possible, they were alone guarded by darkness, but still the voice persisted, “LILY! Where are you?” There was desperation in the screams. Agony had no place here in the sanctuary of the Wisps.
“Juliet, why are we being disturbed?” One Wisp asked with a sharpness that surprised Lily.
“I don’t know, ask Lily, she’s the one who led him here.” Juliet’s tone was suddenly ice cold and right in front of her, unlike the dreamy echo from before. But why? Lily had done nothing but seek the comfort of her friend. A friend whose eyes had a murderous intent behind them.
“Lily it’s me, Callum, where are you!” Callum… Lily recognized that name, it belonged to the nagging feeling.
“I-I don’t know” Lily said to answer Juliet’s question, but it also seemed an appropriate response to Callum’s. She didn’t know where she was, there was water beneath her feet and trees around, but she was lost. Lost in her senses and mind, and maybe even lost to the world. The women who had stopped their dancing now gathered behind Juliet, all were glowing brighter and some melted into another. Almost like fog again, but Juliet stood out amongst them. Slowly, Lily stepped backwards, retreating from the Wisps. Their hospitality all at once gone, replaced with an icy chill. Lily could hardly feel her hands, and her feet seemed to be frozen through and through.
“I’m right here Lily, just come to me,” Callum called out from the shore, which was closer now. But his words angered Juliet and her fog. The glowing mass led by Lily’s dear friend charged at her, she turned and ran with all her might to Callum. She leapt from the water into his arms. He caught her and held her tightly as the world started to go dark and cold. The last thing Lily heard was the soothing voice of Callum, but couldn’t make out the words. She should have said something, but the darkness consumed her before she had the chance.